Chicago, St. Louis colleges will require COVID vaccines. Southwest IL is still planning

While the University of Illinois joined other Illinois schools on Monday in requiring students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the fall semester, colleges and universities in the metro-east are still making their decisions.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is closest to a full policy, mandating that students and faculty wear a mask if they haven’t been vaccinated. But students who have not received one of the approved vaccines may also have to submit to periodic testing, university president Dan Mahony wrote in a statement. And vaccinations may be required for student-athletes and those in health-related majors.

“To be clear, we strongly encourage as many students, and SIU faculty and staff, as possible to be vaccinated before classes begin this fall,” Mahony wrote. “The data on the efficacy of the vaccination is overwhelming, including as it relates to the new and more contagious variants of the coronavirus.

“Our goal is to attempt to respect individual circumstances as we open our campuses to the greatest degree possible, while still providing fellow students as well as faculty and staff with a healthy and safe environment.”

A spokesperson for McKendree University in Lebanon both said the school hadn’t made decisions yet. For McKendree, updates are expected by mid-July Executive Director for Communications and Marketing Krysti Connelly said.

Southwestern Illinois College did not respond to two emails this week about their policy.

In April, the American College Health Association recommended schools require all students attending in-person classes to receive the COVID vaccine, with normal exemptions, including for medical reasons.

The University of Illinois has three campuses, in Urbana-Champaign, Springfield and Chicago. All of the other campuses in the state that are requiring the vaccine are in or around Chicago, according to University Business, a publication for higher education leaders that keeps a daily update on COVID vaccine policies. Those schools are: Columbia College, DePaul University, Lewis University, Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and University of Chicago.

Across the river in St. Louis, Saint Louis University and Washington University are requiring the vaccine.

This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 6:00 AM.